Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-09-16
NO. 43
Pixies Peak--Curious Electrical
Phenomena Observed There
by a Signal Service Man.

Sergeant Luther NJ. Day, now in
the signal service in Philadelphia,
spent year for the government at
Pixies Peak. His experiences there
must be as interesting to scientists as
to the general public. for they are un-
like any ever published about that
monarch of American mountains.
81 was in the signal service house
on the summit. when lightning tele-
! graphed itself up the mountain and
struck the building" he said recent
! ly.
"The wire was grounded FIVE feet
! from the west wall The bllt blow
cd fufrow from the end of the Wire
to the stone wall, two feet thick, and
tore out of it a hole eighteen inches
square. Then it flashed around the
room, melted and ruined some Of our
instruments and went through one of
the east windows. The air seemed
full Of electricity at the time but not
one of US was injured.
"Not long afterwards L saw the
most wonderful electrical stor m [
have ever heard Of. The atmosphere
had appeared loaded with electricity
ali one afternoon. There was a
singing sound in the air, as If the
whole universe was great hive Of
bees. When this sun went down I
saw thousand jets of electrical
fame rising from the wires down the
mountain. l went outdoors. nV
haiV rose up. my mustache poked into
my nose. took my hands from my
pockets and electric flames two inches
long started from each finger tip.
When | held them dowa the flames
disappeared. I walked up and down /.
with my hands in the air, as excited
as child. When | came under the
telegraph wire the flames went out
where l was and disappeared before
and behind me, This storm lasted
half an hour
But from Sergt. Days talk there
are real dangers on the mountain,
Once in winter time he descended
the great crater, for Pixies Peak is
an extinct volcano. Half way down
the side of the crater he slipped, and
in moment shot several hundred
feet along the slippery surface Of
loose snow, saving himself by catch
ing on bowlder. The snow was
very deep, and far down the noun
tain he saw tracks of mountain lions.
After hours of awful suffering aud
struggling in snow banks be reached
the trail and got back to the station.
1.-The house has walls Two feet
thick" continued Sergeant Day.
"There are several rooms-one for
Instruments, one for sleeping and two
iised as store-room and kitchen re-
spectively. The roof is anchored by
G reat cables. to brace it.against the
wind, which is terrible, sometimes
bio wing 100 miles an hour. Six
months provisions and six months
supply OF wood are taken up every
fail from the timber line The peak
is ten miles from Manitou, and sew
enteen from Colorado Springs.
But" said the sergeant, lighting
his pipe again, "the view from the
station was magnificent. We could
see the smoke of Denver, the city of
Pueblo. aud the trains on plains
twenty miles away very clearly.
We could see in Old Mexico the,
Spanish peaks, capped with SHOWS and
glistening like knights lniarmor, $50
miles away. More than dozen
times we have looked far, for down
below US at thunder storms raging in
a sea of black clouds u
"Let me tell you word of poor
Capt. Crevin. He was a friend of
Gen. Hazen, and came west for his
health He was Manxman, and on
the peak in the government service.
The doctors say he died of boil in
;he lungs, very rare disease. Life
on the peak is lonely There are few
birds and animals. Bears are seen
oceasiona | "a d vultures and the mis-
cradle, ghastly- looking Rocky Noun
tain magpies and thrushes. Itsnows
every month in the year. Once in
awhile a royal eagle scars over the
range. The atmosphere is so rare up
there that the men of the signal Office
have to spend one month on the
sam nit. IA, $50 feet above the sea,
and then one month 1000 feet lower,
at Colorado Springs.
Pixies Peak is the highest noun
tain in the world on which civilized
men live all the year round.